diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c4d3a1597..96b6e4732 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1087,7 +1087,7 @@ fi
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(optimize,
 	[  --disable-optimize      compile without optimizations (for development)],
-	optimize=$disable_optimize,
+	optimize=$enable_optimize,
 	optimize=yes
 )